Jul 25, 2010

Where to stay in Waikiki ~ Park Shore Hotel

Where to stay in Waikiki ~ Park Shore Hotel 

Park Shore Hotel General description:

• The Park Shore Hotel was originally built in 1968, it is 14 floors high and has over 220 rooms in its inventory, located at the very end of Waikiki, and this “T” shaped building sits on the corner of Kalakaua and Kapahulu, across the street from the Honolulu Zoo.
• The common areas are adequate in size with a ground level lobby with a front desk and a 3rd floor swimming pool with a large sundeck. It has food facilities within the property but is also walking distance to several restaurants and bars in the same area.

What we like about the Park Shore Hotel:

• There are only 7 hotels on Kalakaua, across the street from the beach and the Park Shore Hotel sits on the best lot, fronting both Kalakaua and one of the largest parks in Honolulu.
• The Park Shore Hotel is close to the Kapiolani Park, the Honolulu Zoo and the Waikiki “Shell” and still walking distance to the International Market Place and what is considered the center of Waikiki.
• There is a percentage of people that seek this side of Waikiki and the proximity to the Kapiolani park because is regarded as less noisy (there is no such a thing as a “quiet” hotel in Waikiki) and they like the open spaces that the park, the Waikiki Shell and the Honolulu Zoo offer.
• All ocean view and ocean front rooms in the Park Shore Hotel have been refreshed in 2009 with flat screen TV’s, new carpets, bedcovers and curtains.
• The ocean views from the Park Shore Hotel are completely unobstructed, especially if you stay in one of the ocean front view rooms.
• The Park Shore Hotel has one of the few pools and sundecks that have sun from the morning and into the middle of the afternoon.

What you may not like about the Park Shore Hotel:

• The Park Shore Hotel has been planning a renovation for a few years now but because of the downturn of the economy they have decided to postpone the “large” renovation and went ahead to refresh all Ocean View and Ocean Front units with flat screen TV’s, new carpets, bedcovers and curtains to improve the product while they wait for things to come around.
• Standard rooms have in fact no view, but for most budget conscious visitors is more than enough. If you prefer to have a view of the ocean and you do not mind paying extra for it, book either the Ocean Views or Ocean Fronts categories.
• The Park Shore Hotel has a few of what they call Partial Ocean Views, our advise to you is to go either Standard (no view) and save the money or go ocean view/ocean front view.
• For some, the distance to the International Market Place is too much even though is only 12 minutes away walking.
• Like most hotels in Waikiki, parking is charged extra even for Park Shore Hotel guests, if you decide to stay in this hotel you may want to reconsider renting a car since parking is expensive and very limited, the bright side of this is that the hotel provides valet parking included in the parking fee.